standing on fishes .....

One of my most favourite pieces of prose/poetry ever.  I think I first came upon this on Leslie's blog though it is so locked in my heart I can't be quite sure.

Every now and then you make a piece of work that becomes 'the favourite piece you have ever made' and I think this is it for me.  It could be that I love the poem so much and hence love the book, but there is also magic that happened here.  I worked with pen and ink of some of my father's old architectural paper and magic happened.  At that point I did not know that this was to be the book I had longed to make for 'standing on fishes'.  The last image happened and as I looked at it once finished, I actually felt that sinking feeling as though standing on fishes.  I knew this book had been made, almost, dare I say it, made itself.

The deep parts of my life pour onward,

as if the river shores were opening out.

It seems that things are more like me now,

That I can see farther into paintings.

I feel closer to what language can't reach.

With my senses, as with birds, I climb

into the windy heaven, out of the oak,

in the ponds broken off from the sky

my falling sinks, as if standing on fishes. 

Rainer Maria Rilke

This book is rather like Fiona's and my collaborative book 'Silence' in that it is quiet and meditative. Because I had made the images on film, I used layers of soft Japanese papers in between the pages.  The book is large as far as artists's book go - 52 cms wide by 36 cms.  It is covered in warm white Fabriano Tiepolo, gently embossed and stitched with Japanese stab binding.

The Exhibition is drawing closer every day and I am still finishing off a couple of 'bits'.  I am editioning a couple of my etching books and so will still set aside time to finish the editions.  Other than that I am feeling more in control which is a good feeling.

We are still waiting for the invitations to send out by PDF but the details for the exhibition can be found here on the Noosa Regional Gallery website.

The Opening is on Friday 23th October 2015 at 6pm and it runs through until December 6th.

Fiona and I are also doing an Artists' talk in the morning of October 31st and a workshop in the afternoon where we teach a coptic binding technique of making a book but spend most of our time in the workshop working on collaborative page.  We have a maximum of 12 participants six of whom will work with Fiona and six with me.

studio news .....

susan bowers .....   studio news - october 2015 It has been a year since my last newsletter and I had thought I would have sent out at least two more during the year!  It has been a busy one. I have handwork showing in Belgium, Cairns, Caloundra Regional Gallery and Redland Art Gallery and more recently in the Brisbane City Library. Many more exciting ventures on the horizon as well which is exciting. Most exciting of all is that in a few weeks time Fiona Dempster and I will be exhibiting at Noosa Regional Gallery.  The central focus of the exhibition will be 'Pas de Deux' which is a collection of collaborative artists' books we have created over the last three years.  Some of you may have seen parts of those books in my studio. In addition to the collaborative work Fiona and I have both produced our own bodies of work which will support this exhibition - a chance to see how we work individually as well as how we come together in our collaborative work. My work celebrates the relationship I have with the landscape.  I have been working in a number of different directions of late and much of this work will be seen at the exhibition - 3D drawings, ink drawings and paintings. The Opening for the exhibition at Noosa is on Friday 23rd October, 2015 at 6pm an it continues until December 6th. Having the exhibition open for so many weeks will provide much more opportunity for friends to find their way there. The invitations will be out shortly with more information regarding our workshop and artist's talk and I will forward them through mail chimp as well.  You are all invited ... please don't feel as though you should try and be there for the Opening as there will be many weeks for you to head to Noosa! The Print Council of Australia has shown great initiative in making 2016 'The Year of Print' to celebrate its 50th anniversary.  Many plans are afoot in the area to showcase printmaking in all its forms next year.  This will be an opportunity for printmakers to showcase their talents and raise public awareness. Exciting times not only at the moment, but looking ahead.     See more of my work here. 'Preserve' detail of 'Wandering' 'Tidings of Magpies' Copyright © 2015 SUSAN BOWERS, All rights reserved. I send this email a couple of times a year to people who have shown an interest in my work or who have signed up to receive my news. Our mailing address is: SUSAN BOWERS PO BOX 47 MONTVILLE, QLD  4560 Australia Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

hunting and gathering .....

I have been busy in the studio trying to get everything ready for the exhibition .... time seems to be racing. Though much of the work I am presenting is not printmaking, I could not let this opportunity pass without some representation of my favourite medium.

As well as my 'tidings of magpies' which I am now editioning, there will be an edition of this book titled 'hunting and gathering'.  This book consists of four etchings (and embossings of course) bound together with perspex hinges in concertina form.  This is the first time I have used this method and was quite excited by the results.  Being one of those very difficult to photograph books, the photos below give an impression rather than the experience of reading the book.

These plates were rather complex - been bitten in acid four or five times to give different degrees of aquatint texture and also different layers of fine line etching.  Had I been more focussed I  could probably have reduced this 'biting' but I just didn't seem to be able to work everything out simultaneously!

The etchings are printed on Fabriano Tiepolo 290 gsm which is a favourite of mine.  The plates were inked using three colours and by warming the plates the colours were blended and a small amount of plate tone was left.  I had thought to add chine cole but felt it would detract from the line work and obscure some of the detail. My first proofs were made on rusted and inked papers and though the bolder lines were visible, the fine details were completely lost.

In this photograph you can see the reflection of the first etching through the cover.  Both front and back covers are perspex which I have sanded, leaving a couple of windows or peep holes through which to view the from image more clearly.  I used this technique in one of the collaborative books I made with Fiona, 'epitaph'.  I will use it more in the future I am sure.

silence and the love of printmaking .....

Sometimes when reading an artists' book there comes the delight of knowing that the experience is far greater than the sum of its parts.  I hope that makes sense - it does to me but then I have just had the experience.

What I mean is that this book essentially exists of five etchings done by me with gorgeous quotes which Fiona and I chose on 'silence', added to the etchings with Fiona's calligraphy.  I remember saying to Fiona when we started making this book, that I didn't want it to feel like 'bits of calligraphy'.  Works of calligraphy can be very beautiful in their own right, but I wanted this last of our collaborative books to look and feel 'booklike'.

Until this work was finally made I did not love it.  Partly this was due  to the fact that this was a more typical collaboration where I was responsible for the artwork (and how does one represent 'silence'!) and Fiona the calligraphy.  Previously we have explored 'collaboration' in a much more involved and intimate way and this last book left us feeling a little disconnected until finally bringing it together in this very soft and gentle, quiet book.

Each page is wrapped in tengujo paper and the act of revealing each work is slow and meditative.  The light plays a large part in the reading of this book and because of the manner of its presentation you cannot rush the reading.  Now that it is made and I can experience it as a whole, it reminds me why I love making artists' books and will keep making them.  The slow reveal, the feel of the gorgeous soft papers ..... definitely more than the sum of its parts.

 In these images you can see how the interleaving pages and the light play such an integral part of this book and to its feeling of 'silence'.

And here you can see some of the pages and details.  I used only sugar lift with this work as I wanted to keep everything very soft and fluid.  Lines are partially inked, delicately wiped. I had hoped that there would be enough definition in the uninked lines to be embossed but they were too faint so I had to make embossing plates for the etchings once they had dried.  The embossing added the lift that the marks needed.  It is hard to show that photographically.

I think it is hard to find anything more beautiful in combination that the softness of an etched mark and the crispness of an embossed line.   It is a perfect partnership.

With infinite possibilities, Fiona had to decide  how to write these beautiful quotes.  Couldn't have been more perfect really.

As a complete departure from the unique nature of all our other collaborative books, Fiona and I decided to edition these books, an edition of 10 and a further edition of 10 of each of the prints separately.  These will be for sale at the Noosa Regional Gallery or beforehand.

step by step .....

Once again it has been an age since I posted on my blog but plenty has been happening behind the scenes.  The next couple of photographs are really just a tease ... I am sure Fiona and I will post on this book 'silence' soon.  It is the last of our collaborative books and was done in a more traditional collaboration where I created the artwork and Fiona was responsible for the beautiful quotes we sourced on 'silence'.  It is a very quiet and meditative book and we will speak more of it later as we have editioned this book and have also made a second edition of the five individual prints.

'silence' by Susan Bowers and Fiona Dempster.

I have had to keep away from more toxic things in the last months and as such have been revisiting my painting and drawing days and having a great deal of fun in the process.  Earlier this year I did a workshop with Noela Mills on textures and using some of the elements I learnt I have been working on 'textures of australia' which will form one of the bodies of my work for the up coming exhibition at Noosa Regional Gallery.  I have made four larger individual works and a piece made up of sixteen smaller works to be hung as a four by four installation.  I am really looking forward to seeing them up on walls and not just scattered over my studio floor.

The inspiration for these works has been our trips to the outback of Australia and being lucky enough to take helicopter flights or small plane flights over lake Eyre and Lake Armadeus - both of which were oceans of salt whipped up by wind.  Though the two years prior to my flight over Lake Eyre had been popular viewing because of all the flood water which came down from the north of Australia, I was lucky enough to be there when the typical dry was back and witness the aftermath of a windstorm the night before which created gorgeous patterns and marks and almost made the desert landscape look like frozen tundra, or our ocean shores.

It fascinates me that what we see from on high by way of patterns and marks over extensive landscape, can be repeated in a single rock or stone found on the ground.  People associate the vivid blues and reds with our outback but my eye is always drawn to these soft greys and ochres, charcoals and mauves. In this painting below you can see the remnant of water left in some small puddles amidst what looks like ice but is salt residue.

I have finally completed my 3D drawings ... seventeen of them which will spread across a wall a couple of metres - hopefully in a spot with much delicious light which seems to bring these drawings to life.  The wall upon which I hang them for viewing in my studio has barely any light so they don't look their best.  The process for each of these is quite involved as I firstly need to make the drawings, each of which is between 90cms and 130cms  in height and in various widths.  Once this is done I actually score the paper, which is mostly architectural film inherited from my father, hoping like anything that I am not cutting right through the film and ruining the drawings.  Strangely enough, once all the drawing and the scoring and folding has taken place, one of the most difficult things is to actually the stick down the works along their backs so they become totemic.  Not all all easy when you are not able to get your hands or arms into the lengths of the sculptured drawings!

Part of me thinks that is would be so much easier just to make a number of two dimensional drawings and forget about working in 3D - though I think this is as close to sculpture I will ever come. I am planning some very large two dimensional works in this vein though they won't be happening till later this year, or next year!

I am using many different layers with the drawings - mostly using inks, graphite power and pencils.  I have tried to keep the drawings varied and yet hope they all hang well together.  Mostly they deal with trees and their markings and textures.

I quite like the softness of the backs ...

The seventeen - though I haven't actually decided if this is the final number!

And some details here, and below.

I am also working on a number of artist's books at the moment.  The glimpses of this one below are from a book which will be called 'standing on fishes' and taken from the work of  Rainer Marie Rilke. If you don't know the poem I would 'google' it as it is sublime.  I have had the quote on my computer desktop for a couple of years now and always wanted to make a book of images to suit.  The imagery just happened and when I had made the fourth image and to me it looked exactly like fish beneath the water, I knew I had found my book.  Now I just have to find a way to write the words on the pages ......  will need to solicit the aid of Fiona I am sure though ultimately I want to actually write in the book myself.  I am still in the process of working out how to present this book, what papers to use, whether I need to add anymore drawing or artwork, whether to emboss covers and so forth.  Need to get a wiggle on though as the date for submitting our list of works get closer and closer.